Loew: An Idea Becomes Reality
How a forgotten proposal becomes a
commercial asset.
Helvetica, Jonathan tells me, is something of a paradox. Though fulfilling its purpose as a neutral sans-serif, built ostensibly for clarity and practical use, it’s also one that many type-designers can’t stand: they find it boring, static or unoriginal. Nevertheless, the font remains ubiquitous. Understanding why was crucial for Jonathan. ‘I realised that Helvetica’s success derives from its reliability’, he explains. ‘It’s exactly what the consumer wants. Simplicity and straightforwardness are its most compelling features. Those were the characteristics I had to focus on in my own design.’
‘I realised that Helvetica’s success derives from its reliability’, he explains. ‘It’s exactly what the consumer wants’.
“We’re good at transforming ideas into something valuable, no matter how rudimentary they may seem.”
Though the project with Glad Design Studio was mothballed, and Loew left out on a limb, Jonathan felt empowered rather than frustrated. ‘The Northern Block’s strongest asset’, Jonathan assures me, ‘has always been our adaptability. We’re good at transforming ideas into something valuable, no matter how rudimentary they may seem.’ Faced with the daunting but unmissable prospect of turning an unfamiliar, abstract idea into a viable reality, channelling the ‘Helvetica effect’ became a near-obsession for The Northern Block’s typeface-designers.
‘We knew that there was a clear commercial requirement’, Jonathan says, ‘and that if we worked with the right info we could make a really good product.’
Initial design phase of the Loew
modifications for Vauxhall.
‘Can you make Loew just a bit more ‘Gothamesque’?’
Capturing, through painstaking effort and months of refinement, that deliberate vagueness belonging to Helvetica and Gotham – so plain in their constitution and perfect for general copy – was clearly what led Vauxhall Motors to Loew’s conspicuously realist design. McCann, a branding agency, got in touch with the Northern Block immediately after Loew’s release. They sought, on behalf of their client, a corporate typeface with understated regularity, but adorned with a unique geometric and mechanical edge.
There was a single catch: ‘Can you make Loew just a bit more ‘Gothamesque’?’ At this point, Jonathan reveals that he genuinely couldn’t believe Loew’s fortunes. Given that the design was initially without patronage, he notes that ‘it was beyond fortuitous that another big customer was looking for a typeface just like ours – and that they were trusting us to meet their brief. It was really exciting for us, because we hadn’t even had a ‘regular’ typeface until 9 months earlier.’
As the second-largest selling car brand in the UK for much of the 21st century, it’s perhaps expected that Vauxhall did not want Loew in its democratic format but required customisation and strategic flair. That’s how Vauxhall Neue’ was born: an exclusive adaptation of Loew that appears on all of Vauxhall’s marketing, branding and copy. It became evident, slowly and then all-at-once, that The Northern Block finally had their own Helvetica.
Strangely enough, as a typeface boasting definitive regularity amidst eccentric geometric forms - such as Borda, Hefring Slab and Luminare - Loew holds its own with ease and finesse. ‘It’s funny’, Jonathan says, ‘but you can’t actually explain why you like it.’ Users on Behance apparently agree: their appreciation is extensive but nonspecific. One comment simply reads ‘yeah, just yeah.’
Fonts In Use - Vauxall Neue (Custom Typeface).
“The episode galvanised Jonathan into expanding their team”.
But Loew’s adoption by Vauxhall isn’t the end of the story: Jonathan admits that the customisation process was significant to The Northern Block for reasons beyond its immediate traction on the market. The episode galvanised Jonathan into expanding their team – and fully embracing the all-conquering phenomenon of commercial globalisation. It would take Loew’s third chapter – the most impressive one yet – for this to materialise into new recruits, new expertise, a fresh business model and a commitment to longevity.